Appletell

Backlight producer Kenmos Technology, the company that makes the LED backlit displays for Apple’s MacBooks, will now have their technology in every MacBook by 2009.  This technology not only helps save battery life, but is better for the environment as it rids of the mercury in older displays.  These advantages don’t come for a price in performance as they offer the same brightness and color range as older displays while not even needing time to warm up.  It’s great to see Apple, as well as other technology companies, moving to help the environment.

You can find all of the ways Apple is becoming more “green” over at their environment page on their website.  There you can find tons of interesting facts about what they are doing to help.  For example, did you know that “Apple reduced packaging for many software titles by more than 50% in 2006 — eliminating hundreds of thousands of pounds of packaging waste”?  Great job, Apple, and keep up the good work.  We love it when environmentalists are happy with our favorite fruitful company!

In what is perhaps the coolest thing I have ever seen, Troika has created a “virus” for Mac, though its status as a virus is debatable. It lives on a USB key, and you have to have physical access to the computer to install it. The virus was created in an attempt to get back to the tme when viruses were just amusing little programs run to make the user chuckle. Nowadays, viruses are used for malicious intent, but back in the advent of the personal computer, “viruses [were] born out of the wit of early computer adopters, viruses whose sole purpose was to surprise and amuse.”

Troika says that they “chose to do it for mac as the platform is still a virgin territory.” If this is what Mac viruses will look like, I will download and install every suspicious looking thing that comes my way. The “virus” causes the menu bar to crack in half and fall, along with all desktop icons, to the bottom of the screen. Then, by turning the computer around, the icons and menu bar halves respond just as they would if they were really in a box.

The only problem? You can’t actually get it. If anyone can figure out how to get this, please comment. I want it really badly. Now, to see it in action, look after the break.

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Late Tuesday night, in an interview with Forbes.com, an Apple spokesman shed some light on their recent acquisition of PA Semi, a small PowerPC computer chip manufacturer.  This buy out is a very interesting one indeed, as Apple ditched PA Semi’s PWRficient processors for Intel’s x86 design back in 2005.  Steve Jobs’ reasoning behind the move was although PWRficient was, you guessed it, very energy efficient, it had no where near the processing power Apple was looking for.  This purchase is also a huge blow to Intel, as Apple was one of their biggest customers.  With the recent acquisition, Intel’s recently released Atom chip, which was targeted at the iPhone, may take a back seat to the versatile PWRficient chips.  The adapted PWRficient chips could be used in every from a MacBook Pro to an iPod Nano, and Apple prefers to get everything from the inside- no third parties are best.

The decision to center the iPhone design around a chip that Apple could own marks a significant strategic choice by Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs, and is aimed at ensuring Apple can continue to differentiate its flagship phone as a raft of competitors flood the market. According to a source affiliated with the chip company, Jobs and Senior Vice President Tony Fadell led the tiny group of executives who spearheaded the acquisition, which included negotiations that took place in Jobs’ home.

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For those of you who are unsatisfied with the current MacBook Air (or the iPhone, iMac, MacBook Pro or iPod Classic, and who value looks and style over functionality (or in some cases a lack thereof), this mod is for you.  Computer Choppers, an Oregon-based company, will take one of the previously mentioned Apple products and really pimp it out.  You have the choice of five precious metals and four semi-precious metals to cover your computer in, and other add-ons such as multi-colored sapphire Apple Logos on your computer. 

The main feature of their line if a 24 karat gold MacBook Air.  For $5,000, you can get a base-line MBA sheathed in the shiny stuff, and for another $3,000, you can get the Apple logo on the top cover replaced by multi-colored sapphires (of course using the original Apple Logo color scheme).  Other specialties include a Platinum iMac, a Rose Gold iPhone, and a Black Nickel iPod Classic. 

Via [9 to 5 Mac\

Can Apple be stopped on their run to the top?  My guess is no, at least not in the next few years.  This was further solidified by the Fortune 500.  Last year, Apple jumped a whopping 38 spots, from 159th to 121st.  This year, they made another jump, though less substantial, from 121st to 103rd.  Fortune Magazine says that the main contributors to this year’s jump was the announcement of the iPhone and MacBook sales headed skyward.

Yet another confirmation of Apple’s juggernaut approach on the tech industry is its rating among the “20 Most Profitable Companies of 2007”.  In this, they are safely situated in the 8th spot, a ranking no one expects them to lose any time soon.  With the future of Apple looking up (the imminent 3g iPhone, unexpectedly high sales numbers, etc.), maybe they can crack the top 100 next year on the Fortune 500, and maybe even the top 5 of the 20 Most Profitable Companies of 2008.  Maybe the fact that Microsoft is up at the top of this year’s Profitable Companies list will light a fire under Apple’s butt and inspire them to work harder.  Not that they don’t work hard now.

Let you voices be heard: leave a comment about where you think Apple is headed, and if you think that their current skyrocketing trend is a momentary high or something thats here to stay.

The problem that has plagued me personally, and seemingly evaporated, has finally been acknowledged by Apple. Graphical “tearing” when scrolling webpages and flickering when watching video seems to be rather common place on new MacBooks and MacBook Pros. Apple has said that they know about it and are looking into it.

The issue does not render the computer unusable, just annoying for watching videos. Scrolling through webpages or emails in Apple Mail gets you distorted pages as seen above. YouTube video especially shows large white bands that flash up for less than a second, then flash again, making for an annoying experience.

One user got back a reply: “Apple has received reports similar to the behavior you are describing and we are investigating those reports. Further information will come in the form of a Knowledge Base article, Software Update, or Software Release.” The fix may come in Mac OS X 10.5.3, seemingly coming soon.

Via [Ars Technica]

According to Reuter’s, a recent jump in MacBook sales has done Apple a little good.  J.P. Morgan Securities predicts a fairly sizable rise in Second Quarter profit, along with 2008 profit.  After an eighty dollar drop in value between December 28th and February 22nd, and the subsequent slow rise in price, this is good news for Apple and its shareholders. 

Apple reports that, yes, they have had a spike in MacBook sales, with Apple increasing its estimates from 1.97 million units shipped to 2.11 million.  Although this part is good for Apple, they have also said that their focus on the MacBook and the huge amounts of shipments has lessened sales of the iPod and iPhone.  Although ATT and Apple deny it, Munsters, among other people, believe that the decrease in iPhone inventory points to the imminent release of the highly anticipated 3G iPhone. 

Apple today released Firmware Updates for the Intel iMac, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Aluminum Keyboard.

The firmware updates are available at apple.com and through Software Update. They “[fix] several issues to improve the stability of [the] computers.” The keyboard update addresses an issue with keys repeating themselves wittttttttttttthout warning.

Firmware Updates require a restart and the keyboard update renders your keyboard useless for as much as 5 minutes while it installs, then it, too, requires a restart of your computer. Follow the instructions (usually “Quit Everything, Touch Nothing") to the letter, other wise your computer may get messed up. Potentially REALLY messed up.

Oddly, I downloaded the Firmware Update for my MacBook Pro manually, as Software Update didn’t find it and it told me I didn’t need the update. Is this happening to anyone else?

Symwave, a semiconductor maker, has announced the FirePHY-1600, which doubles the speed of FireWire to 1.6 Gbps. Current FireWire 800 only manages 800 Mbps.

FirePHY-1600 is fully backwards compatible with Firewire 400 and FireWire 800, and the speed increases are dramatic. According to Macworld, Symwave says that in under 5 seconds, you can transfer 1,000 4 megapixel photos. Of course, this is possible at 1.6 Gbps, which is the maximum throughput. Actual throughput will be less on average.

Given that FireWire is an Apple-introduced standard, it would be nice to see Apple first on the bandwagon for Firewire 1600, at least in their Mac Pros.

Here’s another rumor to add to the June speculation - not only will 3G iPhones be supposedly released, but Apple will apparently redesign their notebook line. If you take a look at the MacBook and MacBook Pro - their designs have been around for quite some time now. The MacBook Pro even shares an almost identical design to that of the PowerBook G4. According to AppleInsider’s sources, brand-new redesigned MacBooks and MacBook Pros will be released in the third quarter of this year. The newly designed notebooks will sport the same sized enclosures as the current models: 13-inch MacBooks, and 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pros. MacBook Pros are expected to use Intel’s Montevina chips that are being released in June. The new designs will most likely be inspired by the current iMacs and the MacBook Air.

Via [AppleInsider]